Ducks' Ryan again the man in the middle

ANAHEIM -- The latest edition of The Great Bobby Ryan Center Ice Experiment took place Friday night and, for once, it was actually great.

Ryan has been tried out in the middle on several occasions in recent years but not for very long after a lack of success each time. But there's hope this time around after the usual sniper on the wing flourished at center in the Ducks' 3-2 victory over Minnesota.

Moved over to the pivot on the second line by Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, Ryan scored a power-play goal and assisted on both of Kyle Palmieri's goals at even strength. It helped snap out of a slow start in which he had just a goal and a helper in the first five games.

Ryan said he "just tried to go out and play a little defensive and take advantage of opportunities up the ice." He also acknowledged that he needs to work on some reads and that he "had a lot of help from our [defensemen]" in the times when he felt uncomfortable.

But the four-time 30-goal scorer who's often had to take a back seat to other stars on his team is eager to take on more responsibility.

"It might be something good," Ryan said. "I think I'm a little more mature as a player than I was even last year when we tried it. It's something I think I can thrive in and if it's something we want to do long term, I'm open for it."

Boudreau said having Ryan at center forces him to engage more and get involved earlier in contests.

"Well, he has to work more," Boudreau said. "It's an awful lot more difficult to play center than it is wing. And I'm a little biased at that becaue I played center my whole life. When he's in constant perpetual motion for the most part and he's skating, he's pretty quick out there. He makes some really good plays."

The idea was hatched by Boudreau in recent days. Nick Bonino struggled after being handed the second-line center role during training camp and the Ducks would rather keep veteran Saku Koivu on the third line where he has flourished with Andrew Cogliano and Dan Winnik.

"Bruce has shown a lot of trust in me in other areas," Ryan said. "When he kind of brought it up, it means something to me that he thought I could handle it. He's just got this way to make you want to succeed for him. I felt really good about trying it."

The real test is whether Ryan can succeed over a larger sample size, which hasn't been the case in the past.

"Maybe it was the thought of, 'I'd better play good tonight because it's the first time,'" Boudreau said. "But [tonight], we'll have a better tale of it. We'll be able to read it better if he doesn't get complacent and he can come out and do the same things [tonight] as he did [Friday]."

Ryan liked the use of Palmieri on his wing for the first time. Palmieri had spent time on the top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and then was moved down to the fourth line Tuesday in San Jose.

"Palms adds a different dynamic and I think it helps our line," Ryan said. "He really gets in on pucks. That's something that our line hasn't done very well. We've bend there, we just haven't come up with them. And Palms did a that a lot tonight. We got rewarded because of it."

There are key things such as faceoffs where Ryan will have contiuously work at. Palmieri said it is something he and Selanne can help him with in terms of gaining possession of the puck but added that Ryan "was great in our own zone" against the Wild.

If Ryan is able to make a permanent transition, it would not only help the Ducks solve their No. 2 center question and give them a better matchup against West teams such as San Jose with Joe Thornton and Logan Couture, the Kings with Anze Kopitar and Mike Richards and St. Louis with David Backes and Patrik Berglund.

There is also Vancouver with Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler when Kesler recovers from shoulder surgery and Detroit with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk if they're split apart or Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula.

"My fingers are crossed right now," Boudreau said. "If he can adapt, then you've got two 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3 guys playing center. You can match up against some of the really good teams in the league. We're hoping."

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